The War Within 11.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[huth]

Which it does. However I never stated that ALL Kul'tirans were pirates.

Mostly being pirates is the same thing. Not that either of those claims is accurate anyway since the pirates only have a very limited presence, as has been pointed out to you at least ten times today.

[Mecheon]

You're assuming that this is going to be on some island or something. If we're talking about a major city in an expansion, the surrounding areas aren't all going to be tropical like Stranglethorn. You're more likely looking at a continent with various locales and environments, including the ones you describe above.

If we're going with this "Nightsquall" idea, then it's going to be a long established pirate location. Something akin to Port Royal, which was one of the largest cities in the Caribbean in its day, and it was created and controlled by pirates and privateers.

Oh, so an established pirate location such as... Tel Abim, a place that has been mentioned in lore ever since Vanilla, showed up out of the blue in a recent book noting pirates visit it, and is one of the few Very Well Established places we haven't been to yet?

That's the thing. Avoloren is the open 'could be anything' in this case, but we know the rest. Tel Abim has bananas. Therefore, it must be tropical, because all we know about the place is it has bananas. We've been to Kezan twice, we know what's there as well. Plunder Isle is another mystery (It was just a tropical island in Lands of Mystery), but its also a bit bland on name and I doubt anyone's going to be too upset about Plunder Isle being dropped or merged with the more well known Tel Abim

In the end, this is the most obvious hint to 11.0;


Thrall in the promo image.

This was the promo image prior to Shadowlands reveal;


And this was the promo image prior to BFA reveal;


If history (and Chris Metzen) is anything to go by, the next expansion is going to involve Thrall in a high capacity, since Shadowlands heavily involved Sylvanas, and BFA heavily involved Jaina.

I mean I'd love my Outland Revamp idea (because frankly Outland needs a revamp WAY more than the Cata zones do) and that'd involve Thrall, but we can't really say for sure on anything about it. Thrall heads over to Avoloren because pirates accidentally awoke a thing. Blam, Thrall's involved.

[Palapop]

What are the odds of Blizzard revealing an animated series/TV series based on Warcraft at this year's Blizzcon?

I don't know how many of you guys were aware of this trailer for Hearthstone:



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I think something like that would be promising.

GIMME THAT FULL "Invincible" song with all female chorus!!

PLEASE!

[Luck4]

Honestly at this point there's no reason not to have a show

I feel the same.

This game is nearly 20 years old, and the only media we had was the movie, which is baffling to me, considering that any remotely successful franchise has all kinds of media these days.

[Hitei]

I feel the same.

This game is nearly 20 years old, and the only media we had was the movie, which is baffling to me, considering that any remotely successful franchise has all kinds of media these days.

Not really baffling. The height of its popularity was before video games were much besides pretty awful movie adaptations. Warcraft has never particularly been known for tight well-developed narratives, and also suffers from storylines that are woven into a larger very intricate lore, making it difficult to segment out simple singular stories. Especially because in general the larger narrative arcs with the universe often lack a strong, charismatic and likeable character to follow.

It's an unwieldy IP with pretty narrow appeal. I'm still surprised the Legendary movie managed to get made.

[ChronoSul]

I feel the same.

This game is nearly 20 years old, and the only media we had was the movie, which is baffling to me, considering that any remotely successful franchise has all kinds of media these days.

Not only is the game almost 20 years old the franchise is almost 30 & honestly thats its greatest weakness with how convoluted the warcraft story is blizzard has better choices for a series to chose. Overwatch would be the perfect choice and they even recently release a short 3 episode miniseries which might be them testing the waters.

[Pheraz]

this thrall gives me a bad feeling

two options I could think of why he is on this poster:

the horror: return to draenor / orc centric expansion

okish: "heal the world" / unmake deathwings scars on azeroth plot of a world revamp expansion

oh man... please.... not orcs....

offtopic: if you want to have some good laughs go to google bard and ask him/her about new wow expansions

promt: write a world of warcraft expansion featuring a world revamp

output: Title: The World Revamp

Setting: The entirety of Azeroth, both old and new.

Plot: The world of Azeroth is in chaos. The events of the previous expansions have left the land scarred and shattered. The old world is in ruins, and the new world is still being explored.

In the midst of this chaos, a new threat emerges. A mysterious force is corrupting the land, turning it into a twisted mirror of its former self. The heroes of Azeroth must band together to investigate this new threat and save their world from destruction.

New features:

A complete revamp of the old world, with new quests, dungeons, and raids.
A new continent, the Dragon Isles, home to the dragonflights.
A new race, the dragonkin, a race of humanoid dragons.
A new class, the dragonrider, a powerful warrior who can control dragons.
....
...
..

[Helothar]

You're assuming that this is going to be on some island or something. If we're talking about a major city in an expansion, the surrounding areas aren't all going to be tropical like Stranglethorn. You're more likely looking at a continent with various locales and environments, including the ones you describe above.

If we're going with this "Nightsquall" idea, then it's going to be a long established pirate location. Something akin to Port Royal, which was one of the largest cities in the Caribbean in its day, and it was created and controlled by pirates and privateers.


In the end, this is the most obvious hint to 11.0;



Thrall in the promo image.

This was the promo image prior to Shadowlands reveal;



And this was the promo image prior to BFA reveal;



If history (and Chris Metzen) is anything to go by, the next expansion is going to involve Thrall in a high capacity, since Shadowlands heavily involved Sylvanas, and BFA heavily involved Jaina.

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So seafarer means pirate now? The Kul'tirans are literally a nation of seafarers.

Aaand this is why I'm saying--while I'm 100% team cosmic and would love to see Void as 11.0--the next expansion is some lame elemental s**t with Thrall leading the story because Blizz thinks the core playerbase would find it cool and nostalgic.

Also, unpopular opinion, I frickin hate orcs; undead, any elves, dwarves, draenei are far more interesting races and though I understand that orcs were an integral part of the franchise back then--thank god their role is not that significant anymore, I'd be bored to Death/the 7th cosmic force--I really hope the 20-year anniversary is not some Thrall nostalgia, I'm not even buying the expansion if they pull this elemental bull with him being the main character--which is extremely possible at this point, unforfunately.

If people will love it, I'm happy (?) though, just like with DF, I hate it and been doing legacy content only for quite a while now, but I find its success a great thing for the developers, they must feel very satisfied, it's a good feeling to see that what you've worked on brings happiness to people, so I'm trying not to be selfish and childish and say the game should perish just because I don't like its current expansion, but I'm still hoping deep down that one day they'll ship some new content I, too, am fond of.

[Scyth]

If people will love it, I'm happy (?) though, just like with DF, I hate it and been doing legacy content only for quite a while now, but I find its success a great thing for the developers, they must feel very satisfied, it's a good feeling to see that what you've worked on brings happiness to people, so I'm trying not to be selfish and childish and say the game should perish just because I don't like its current expansion, but I'm still hoping deep down that one day they'll ship some new content I, too, am fond of.

Can't satisfy everyone unfortunately. I love the current story and will love it even more if it's heading into a more elemental themed xpac.
Hated BfA and SL but am sure some people enjoyed the story, well in BfA maybe lol

[Makorus]

Counterpoint to the whole Thrall thing: Doesn't really mean anything other than Thrall will be in it, and not even in a big capacity. It could literally be a Light vs Void expansion, and Thrall shows up.

Bolvar was the poster child of Shadowlands afterall. Khadgar got big hype about being back in DF.

Once again, Teriz is arguing points that only make sense in hindsight. Sylvanas being on the promo art meant Sylvanas will be relevant (which was hardly a surprise, seeing how BFA ended), and the BFA keyart meant Jaina will be relevant.

It doesn't really have anything to do with the themes of the expansions.

Let's not forget that Thrall was featured heavily in Shadowlands as well, so "Thrall = Grounded", or "Thrall = Faction War", or "Thrall = Elements" is also an extremely bad argument.

[Makabreska]

Nothing like waking up to several pages of The Teriz Experience.

[KayRule]

Kezan,we're going home

[Raetary]

If we are lucky Kezan gets krakatau'd out of existence and we can finally bury the Undermine circlejerk for good.

[zirr]

Didn't the chinese leak have a 100% hit rate so far on expansions? it would mean elemental expansion next which also fits with Thrall.

[Makabreska]

Didn't the chinese leak have a 100% hit rate so far on expansions? it would mean elemental expansion next which also fits with Thrall.

We already have a strong elemental presence in DF.

[ChronoSul]

Counterpoint to the whole Thrall thing: Doesn't really mean anything other than Thrall will be in it, and not even in a big capacity. It could literally be a Light vs Void expansion, and Thrall shows up.

Bolvar was the poster child of Shadowlands afterall. Khadgar got big hype about being back in DF.

Once again, Teriz is arguing points that only make sense in hindsight. Sylvanas being on the promo art meant Sylvanas will be relevant (which was hardly a surprise, seeing how BFA ended), and the BFA keyart meant Jaina will be relevant.

It doesn't really have anything to do with the themes of the expansions.

Let's not forget that Thrall was featured heavily in Shadowlands as well, so "Thrall = Grounded", or "Thrall = Faction War", or "Thrall = Elements" is also an extremely bad argument.

Honestly Thrall could just be there because he's an iconic Warcraft Character. There is actually previous examples of this. Last Year & This Year for Hearthstone they have Elise Starseeker to represent the game however she hasnt been relevant in a Hearthstone set since 2019? But is a fan favorite hence her appearance on the art

[KayRule]

It could be a time travel pirate plot on a planet we've never been to and Thrall could still be a core character. I do think with him having been very weakly used, even in stories like Shadowlands and BfA, it is signifying that whatever comes next he'll be playing a more center role.

[Raetary]

Btw, if we do end up getting Odyn as an enemy, it would be interesting if we end up allying with Helya.

[Makorus]

Honestly Thrall could just be there because he's an iconic Warcraft Character. There is actually previous examples of this. Last Year & This Year for Hearthstone they have Elise Starseeker to represent the game however she hasnt been relevant in a Hearthstone set since 2019? But is a fan favorite hence her appearance on the art

Likewise, Blizzcon 2016 had Sylvanas, and at that point we were in 7.1, so she wasn't relevant in the slightest.

2014 had Chen.

This is just the first time in a while where Blizzcon happens at a time where we don't really know anything about what could potentially happen in the future and we are still in the first content patch.

Thrall is just the most generic and neutral WoW character, really. He is the quintessential Warcraft rep.

[ChronoSul]

Likewise, Blizzcon 2016 had Sylvanas, and at that point we were in 7.1, so she wasn't relevant in the slightest.

2014 had Chen.

This is just the first time in a while where Blizzcon happens at a time where we don't really know anything about what could potentially happen in the future and we are still in the first content patch.

Thrall is just the most generic and neutral WoW character, really. He is the quintessential Warcraft rep.

People also are forgetting Metzen is back & who did people always associate him with? Thrall